How To Save Money On Pool Chemicals
One of the main reasons that people would not want to own a swimming pool is because of the costs associated with owning one. Of these many costs one of the greatest is the chemicals required to maintain the balance of the pool water. As any pool owner knows if you let the pool turn green you’ll end up spending a great deal of time and money on the water in order to restore it to clear swimming condition again.
This is a classic example where a better understanding of water chemistry could have saved a lot of money.
For example if you understand that maintaining a sanitizer, or chlorine level, in the pool is of critical importance then you could have avoided this green pool situation. If you maintain a minimum of one part per million free chlorine in the swimming pool at all times the water will not turn green. The water only turns green after an extended period of time, maybe as much as 12 or 24 hours or more, with no chlorine levels before you will see algae forming. It is not as simple as just putting chlorine in the pool though. There are are a couple of different circumstances that could cause unexpected variations in the chlorine levels. For example a high levels of rain or prolonged periods of direct sunshine and heat can consume large quantities of chlorine. Also a lack of cyanuric acid, or stabilizer, in the water will allow the sunlight to burn off chlorine at an exponential rate.
The second step in saving money on your pool chemicals is understanding that too much or too little stabilizer in your swimming pool will cost you money. By maintaining your stabilizer level at approximately 50 ppm then you can be sure that you are getting the most out of your chlorine. If you were to add chlorine to your swimming pool and had a stabilizer level of zero, the next day you would have no chlorine in your pool. Even if you don’t understand what stabilizer is or how it works, just know that you need 50 ppm of stabilizer or your chlorine might just disappear. In layman’s terms stabilizer acts like sunscreen for chlorine. Without the sunscreen the chlorine will just burn up. It is worth noting however that too much stabilizer can cause chlorine lock and prevent chlorine from being active in your pool water so this is not a situation where more is better. Buy granular stabilizer and hang it in a nylon sock from your swimming pool ladder. If you climb to over 70 ppm of stabilizer when you test the water remove the sock for a few days.
One of the simplest ways to save money on your pool chemicals is to test your water often. Not only using test strips or titration kits at home, but also by bringing in your water to a professional water lab for analysis. There are many conditions where a water lab could notice something in your water before you do. One of the best ways to avoid spending lots of money on chemicals is to catch the problem before it becomes a major problem. If you spots a chemical deficiency while still in its infancy you can correct it quickly and easily.
The final tip on how to save money on your pool chemicals is simply to learn about pool chemistry. If you can honestly admit to yourself that you do not understand the relationship between pH and total alkalinity, or the importance of calcium hardness or sanitizer in the water, then you should educate yourself on the subject. If you understand what is happening then you can avoid the situation where you make the problem worse by taking the wrong corrective action. Swimming pool chemistry is actually fairly easy to understand when you hear it from some one who really knows their stuff.
Source by Steve Goodale
